As you know, cosplay is a type of art, mostly oriented on bringing to life the game, anime, comics, and movie characters by crafting the costume as close to the original as possible. When the whole look is ready, all eyes go to the quality of the costume and similarity, but it is not that simple. Dressing up like your favorite character is not enough, let’s not forget about the makeup.
Makeup is very important when you try to look like someone else. However, not all the good craftsmen are professional makeup artists. In order to nail the whole look without special makeup art skills, you should know a few basic cosplay makeup rules that will somehow remind people of the character you are cosplaying.
- If your skin tone is slightly different, you don’t have to overdo the makeup, just stay natural and give it a little bit of shadows and highlights to your skin and don’t forget about the primer. There is a big visible difference between the makeup with and without the primer. Primer gives you the perfect surface, just like when you use it on your costume before painting it.
- Contouring. First of all you need to purchase a contouring kit, which is very helpful. Contouring really can help to replicate the features of your character, just try not going crazy with it and remember that you are not doing the everyday makeup contouring, look at the features of the character and use your “painting” skills on your face. For a bold look, try creamy contours, for a polished look, try contouring powders, if your goal is a subtle look with natural looking dimensions go for a liquid. Focus on your cheeks, forehead, nose, and jawline, try to follow the facial features of the character you are cosplaying. In order to get rid of the unwanted “oopses”, I recommend doing the makeup tests before the upcoming convention.
- Eye makeup – the eyelashes and the contacts. But please don’t use the cheap contacts, if you have decided to wear the contact lenses, get the best ones. Don’t forget to paint your eyebrows, in case if your natural hair color is different than your character’s.
Tip: Glue your eyebrows, using the paper glue stick before applying all the layers of the foundations and contours. This will help to completely hide your original eyebrows and paint the new ones.
